


Modern Summer Ball

by Nour386



Category: Gravity Falls, Over the Garden Wall (Cartoon)
Genre: Gnome prince au, M/M, OH GOD WHY DO I WRITE, PInescone scret Santa, hey look I'm writing for my OTP for once, pinescone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-28
Updated: 2017-04-28
Packaged: 2018-10-25 00:21:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10752816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nour386/pseuds/Nour386
Summary: For someone investigating the weird and wonderful of Gravity Falls, being invited to a party shouldn't be an issue. Having a crush on the host of the however is very much a problem.





	Modern Summer Ball

**Author's Note:**

  * For [itriedfishfingersandcustard](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=itriedfishfingersandcustard).



> I wrote this (like 2 years ago?) for itriedfishfingersandcustard on Tumblr, as part of the PInescone secret Santa event that took place back then.  
> So I decided to give it a bit of a touch up and post it up on here. I also extended the last scene so that it doesn't read like some anime that had it's budget cut before the final episode aired.

“Just. walk me through this again. Are the crystals hanging from the chandelier meant to be that pointy? Is it meant to hang that low? How is it even being held up right now? The only thing I can see connected to it are those ribbons that are connected to the trees. How are such ribbons holding it in the air? How is this architecturally sound?”

“Okay your highness” Jeff Tinylegs began, pinching the bridge of his small nose with one hand, and clutching a clipboard which would have seemed novelty sized to any normal person, in his other. “The chandelier we sto-Borrowed! the borrowed Northwest chandelier is perfectly safe, we set up a whole bunch of levitation charms on the thing. The streamers are just for decoration, ya know, so we aren’t only surrounded by brown and green. The fairies start to complain if we don’t have at least 3 shades of pink somewhere.”  
  
“Is that why our drinks look like they came from the 70’s?” Wirt asked, lifting a glass  of punch for closer inspection, making a mental note to avoid this particular drink for fear of sugar overdose.

“Neon pink was the only colour of punch we could take from the stores nearby, they were sold out of any other kind of pink drinks.”  
  
“Take? And why do we need to have the drinks be pi-Nevermind, just, how are the other proceedings looking? Did you get any information on the other guests that’ll be attending?” Wirt asked, placing his glass back down and allowing his eyes to explore the ballroom his gnomes had made from a sizeable clearing in the Gravity Falls forest.  


“All checked out sire, the Manataur ambassador will be escorting the Fairy Royal family, the Elves are sending in their Royal family, the Pixie King and Queen will be late, but most likely make it in time for the third course of the banquet. The Dwarves are still-”  


Wirt’s mind started to turn Jeff’s speech into white noise as he continued to survey his surroundings. In all honesty didn’t really care much for the other royal families and their attendance, he just wanted sometime to think to himself after the hellish week that came with organising the ball. Ideas for different poems flitting in and out of his mind with each passing hour, begging and screaming to be put to paper; but as much as it pained him to ignore them, he had more important issues to attend to.

The plans for the Summer Ball were going swimmingly, however, like most plans, it would be the execution that counted. And luckily, for the present Gnome Prince, the execution of the party plans was seldom an issue for his subjects, save for that one year where someone swapped the decorative crystals they had made into a disco ball for the dance later that evening out with a the size changing crystals from deep within the forest. Apart from that the party was mostly a success, Wirt's newly found distrust in shiny stones notwithstanding. The memory of Greg and his kleptomaniac love for shiny rocks helped sooth the gnome prince of his fears.

“And lastly, we have those humans you invited attending as well, but they haven’t really confirmed their arrival.” Jeff’’s mention of humans snapped Wirt back to the present, the image of a certain human guest instantly flashing in his mind.   
  
“Oh! Right, uh, they mentioned they’d be arriving at 6 pm” Wirt replied when he realised that Jeff was waiting on a response for him.

“We can work with this/” Jeff said after tucking his clipboard under his arm “You think having someone guide them to their table would be necessary?” he added with a shrug

“I doubt that’d be needed, but I think I could take of that if needed Jeff” Wirt said, with a small chuckle at thought of a formally dressed gnome to guiding people who were practically 5 times taller than them. “Is that all you needed?"

“Yup, that should be it. All that’s left is making sure the others have gotten prepared for the party and then we’re good.”  


“Great!” Wirt said, trying not to sound happy to have a reason to leave “I’ll be off preparing myself. See you tonight”

**********

Staring at himself in the mirror, Dipper grew more and more frustrated as he tried for the umpteenth time to tie his tie. His many attempts at making the most formal looking knot evident in the growing wrinkles in the fabric of the tie, his hands starting to twitch as he started to undo his latest attempt “it’s too lopsided” he argued with himself. Deciding to give himself a break before his next attempt, Dipper turned to the clock on his bed stand, the digital display adding to his frustrations instead of decreasing them. He had been standing there for about an hour, and had made zero progress with his tie, in fact he had made the middle of his tie resemble his great uncle Stan’s forehead when dealing with a particularly annoying customer. A knock from the door brought him back to the attic of the Mystery Shack.  
  
“Dipper!” the sing-song voice came through the never used key-hole “I need to get changed as well!”

“I thought you unpacked all your stuff into your room down stairs.” he called back  
  
“Yeah, but I need help tying the ribbons on the back of my dress.”

“Can’t you get Grunkle Stan to do it for you?”  
  
“He’s dealing with some customers who can’t decide between which over priced junk they wanna buy! Plus I need to put on my make up. Plus plus! I wanna go to the party early. Check out the wares. If ya know what I mean” she added lightly elbowing the door.

“Mabel, I don’t think I ever know what you mean” Dipper stated as he opened the door. “I’ll help you, but only if you help me with my tie”

“Deal!” Mabel cheered as she somehow skipped into the room, heels and all, the tails of the ribbons meant to tie the back of her dress trailing along the floor a good two feet behind her.

“exactly how much help did I agree to giving you?”

“Won’t know ‘till you find out!”

********

“Dipper, we’ve been here forever, why can’t you just pick a knot for me to tie your tie with already?” the annoyance in Mabel's voice matching her expression as her latest attempt was rejected yet again, her dress completed long ago.

Despite sharing his sister’s annoyance at his inability to like how his tie ended up looking, Dipper couldn’t help but feel some kind of compulsion that he needed to look perfect for tonight. Thinking back he noticed the little signs to support this, convincing his great uncle Stan to rent suit for him rather than wearing the old one that Stan had offered him; going out to the barbers and getting himself a (as his sister ever so helpfully told him) much needed hair cut and grooming to his beard, despite how small it was already. He even looked up proper ways to applying cologne and proper etiquette for formal occasions like balls. Despite questioning how much of the advice he read still applied to a ball being held by magical forest creatures, he spent more time than he’d admit practising bowing in the mirror. And that's not even mentioning his attempts at using cutlery in what he read was a ‘formal’ fashion. Elbows raised above the table, not too high that he’d give black eyes to the poor person sitting next to him, yet not so low as to be resting on the table. Dipper was soon to regret asking for Mabel's help, especially when she whipped out her “Disciplinary ruler of Teachering”. The welts still flare up a little whenever his elbows bump into things.

“Dipper, the party’s gonna start in like half an hour.” Mabel said bringing her twin back to the attic of the mystery shack. “Dipper, I know you’re nervous about going to Wirt’s party, but you’ve gotta remember, it’s gonna be okay, he likes you for you. All you gotta do is be relaxed and be yourself and things will work out fine.”

“Yeah you’r-wait how could you tell I had a thing for-” He began  
  
“PAh-Lease Dipper! It took me what? 3 seconds to see your crush on Wendy? and you are talking to a certified matchmaker here!” she said, pulling out a glitter-covered business card, “Mabel Pines Certified Matchmaker” written on it in glitter pen.

“Okay, okay. So maybe I do feel something for him. That doesn’t mean he feels something back. He’s royalty Mabel-I mean, do I even stand a chance? Am I even in his league?” Dipper said, toying with the undone tie in his hands.  
  
“Dipper..” Mabel began, placing her hand on his shoulder “It’ll be okay, what’s the worst that could happen? You’re both friends right? It’s not like he’ll have a bounty placed on your head if you came clean with your feelings to him. Just be yourself and don’t rush things.” She said, giving most reassuring smile she could give.

“And no 618 step plans” Dipper added in humorously “Thanks Mabel.”

“Any time Dipper. Now, let’s get this tie tied so we can go PART-EE!” Mabel replied, punching the air in excitement.

************

  
Dipper’s frustrations had returned yet again; and this time, he could easily point his finger as to why. The party had already  started and he felt like the fool off the month. The golf cart got busted up halfway to the party, forcing him and Mabel to walk the rest of the way, which wouldn’t have been an issue had his sister’s heels not come to bite her in the back. It took Mabel about five minutes of nagging to get Dipper to give her a piggy back ride.  
  
Their arrival at the party was another ordeal all together. He couldn’t get them entry properly because he forgot their invitations in the cart. With a heavy sigh, he put Mabel down and headed back to get them. Rather than meeting a grateful sister, Dipper was met with Wirt and Mabel waiting for him. She had gotten his attention, allowing them entrance despite their lack of invitations. Face slightly flushed and slightly out of breath, Dipper followed Mabel and Wirt into the clearing where the party was being held. he could feel sweat dripping down his armpits, and could only hope it didn’t drain too much into his suit.

Dipper’s sweat based thoughts were cut when he felt the cool air of the party room. The clearing he was sure he’d passed through at least a dozen times this summer alone had been transformed into a room that would not look out of place in a fairy tale castle. The trees surrounding the clearing looked like they held up the sky, ribbons lead from the six largest trees that connected to the centre of the clearing, holding up a magnificent chandelier. Each crystal it held giving off it’s own rainbow, that reached out across the room. Tables laid out around the room, encircling the empty area in the middle of the clearing, giving the already large looking ballroom the illusion of being even larger.

Dipper was so lost in his amazement of how drastically different the clearing looked and felt, that he almost jumped right out of his skin when he felt someone quickly pull him aside. Looking back, Dipper noticed a pair of gnomes, standing on one another’s hats as they carried two plates apiece heading over to a table nearby; the one standing on top turning his head over his shoulder to scowl at Dipper. Turning his head to thank who he thought saved him from another possible embarrassment, Dipper was surprised to see it was Wirt, rather than Mabel like he expected.

“uh-Th-Thanks for that” Dipper began, blushing slightly as he caught the Gnome Prince’s eye “So, uh….could I have my arm back?”  
  
“Oh! Uh-heh, sorry” Wirt replied, blushing as well “W-Would you like me to guide you to your table?”  
  
“Probably for the best” Dipper replied with an awkward chuckle.  
  
“C’mon let’s go! I’m starving!” Mabel interjected, her sharp eye not missing the shared expression on two men’s faces. “Let’s go get something to eat!”

“Sure thing right this way” Wirt said leaning to the side, pointing towards a table that was obviously larger than the others.

“Shoulda guessed this wa-”

“Food now, snark later!” Mabel cut in as she ran to the table, taking a seat bumping her brother in the process.

“I-I guess I’ll be seeing you later then?” Dipper asked

“I- guess? I mean the night is still young” Wirt replied, making his way back to his table across the hall, desperately trying to hide the reddening that was spreading across his face.  
  
“oh my gosh that was terrible” he muttered to himself as he narrowly avoided another pair of gnome waiters.

**********

Mid-way through the banquet, Wirt got up to give his scheduled “Thank you” speech to all the guests for taking time out of their evening to attend. He finished off his speech with a line he was stupidly proud of, “and the true reason this is a ‘Thank you Speech’ rather than a ‘Welcome’ speech, is that it’s short enough for us all to say ‘thank you' when I’m done. Having said that, I’m done. Enjoy the feast!” The echoing laughter followed by a short applause, made his chest swell up with pride knowing that there were people that enjoyed his little joke and weren’t too annoyed at being interrupted mid-meal to hear it. Wirt’s eyes wandered to a certain table on the other side of the room his gnomes had made from the clearing. Mabel seemed to be struggling to contain herself as her hands clutched her sides, while Dipper chuckled in amusement. Catching Dipper’s eye for a moment, he saw him point at his currently struggling to function sister and shrugging.

Chuckling lightly to himself as he took his seat, Wirt felt a small hand tugging his cloak. Looking over, half expecting to see his younger half brother, Wirt was slightly disappointed seeing Jeff with a question in his eye.

“Is there something you wanted?” Wirt asked

“Any possible suitors catch your eyes sire?”

“I thought it was weird how you hadn’t asked me that today.”  
  
“I’m only caring for my Prince, your highness”

“Well, to answer your question…maybe?” Wirt answered shakily, “I better not find anyone tied up in my room tonight” he added sternly

“You have my word” Jeff said, hand on heart, before running off to his own table that seated the other royal advisers.

Sighing to himself, Wirt picked up his cutlery and started to dig into his food.

*********

Dipper thought the evening would improve after he had arrived to the party, but it seemed as though his hopes were in vain. Narrowly avoiding another pair of gnomes was gnome waiters was a great start, probably the same pair from earlier too,they seemed to take him being in their way personally. His attempts at talking with Wirt during the evening also blew up in his face, he thought he was waving at him only to find out it was directed at someone behind him. He tried to get up and talk to him, only to sit down instantly and reconsider, only for him to stop himself mid sit to re-reconsider, resulting in him half standing up and looking like a fool. He was grateful that Mabel had been there to cheer him up. Dipper half feared that hsi face was going ot be permanently stained red soon.

“C’mon Bro-bro, you need to lighten up” she teased

“I’m trying, it’s just-” DIpper began  
  
“You just need to relax” Mabel said, taking a sip of the way too sweet punch from her glass

“it’s not that easy ya know”  
  
“I know”  
  
“…Ya know”  
  
“If you’re planning on helping, either don’t or try not to embarrass me while doing so”  
  
“that wasn’t a no” she sung as she set her drink on the table, standing up.  
  
“Wait-where are you going?” Dipper asked, slightly surprised at her action  
  
“oh no where in particular” She said,  making her way across the room  


“oh!, And Dipper, don’t forget what we talked about in the shack okay?” she added as she disappeared into the crowd of dancing up a storm in the centre of the room.

“What did I just agree to?” Dipper asked himself, riddled with regret.  
  
It was a short while later that he realised what her plan was, and he didn’t know whether to tackle her from across the room or hug her for her help. Either way she had given him an opportunity and he decided to not let it pass, or so he wished he could, but his stuttering had led him to feeling like even more of a fool, he could feel himself slowly turning more and more into a human tomato with each failed attempt at striking up a conversation with Wirt now that he was sitting next to him.  
  
“how’ve you be-” (Wait no, too casual)  
  
“S-So” (Darn it you stuttered that one)  
  
“uh-” (You didn’t even say anything that time)  
  
His social failings were annoying even more as just the other day he was able to talk to the man about gnome politics and how things worked in their monarchy-like system. So why couldn’t he make simple small talk now? Was it because he finally admitted to himself that he has feelings for him?  
  
Over on Wirt’s end, things weren’t going much better, he had his own growing blush as he watched his friend’s attempts at making small talk, something he begrudgingly admitted to himself was kind of cute. However, he did notice how increasingly nervous Dipper was getting, “perhaps he isn’t a party person?” Wirt thought, he wasn’t too much of a party person himself. Thinking for a moment, Wirt decided to see if he could help him out.  
  
“hey-um-Y-you seem a bit nervous, is everything okay?” he began  
  
“hm? Oh-uh yeah, just- ya know, not too in the mood for a party.” Dipper replied

“i-If you’re feeling overwhelmed, I know somewhere nearby we could go for a quick breather, I was planning on heading over there myself” he offered  
  
“Yeah-sure-totally,d-definitely” Dipper replied, berating himself for possibly coming off too strong.  
  
“Great, I just need to take care of something and I’ll be right with you” Wirt said hailing a nearby gnome waiter pair.  


He whispered something into to the upper gnome’s ear, or where Dipper assumed gnome ears were, their hair was often so thick, and their hats covered so much, it was hard for him to tell. With a brief salute, the gnomes hurried off. With a little grin growing on his face, Wirt turned to Dipper and got up.  
  
“Just follow me” he said guiding him to a tree that lined the border of the clearing.  
  
As Dipper neared, he realised that the trees seemed to be more densely packed around the clearing than he remembered, it gave the clearing an illusion of being a large room rather than just a gap in the woods.  

Looking over his shoulder to make sure Dipper was still following him, Wirt didn’t notice the solid tree he walked into. Earning him a hearty chuckle from his travel companion, and a red mark on his forehead.

“Thanks” Wirt said, accepting Dipper's outstretched hand.

“The place you’re taking doesn’t involve knocking ourselves out does it?” Dipper replied playfully  
  
“N-No! I just thought the way out was over here” Wirt replied “I swear, they don’t need to put this much effort into the illusion” he added under his breath.  
  
“wait, what do you mean illusion?” Dipper asked  
  
“didn’t you notice how needlessly thick the trees around this clearing are?” Wirt asked, his gaze trained onto the tree next to the one he walked into. His eyes questioning its solidity.

“yeah, but I didn’t think it meant much.” Dipper replied, eyes trying to follow the gnome prince’s gaze  
  
“Well we wanted this clearing to look more like is was happening indoors, give the folk here a change from being outdoors all the time ya know? So we hired some gnome wizards to make it look like the trees were a wall. Give it the illusion of being a giant room. But after a certain..’incident’ a couple of years back, we had to request that the illusion go one further and basically act like a painted wall around the clearing. It took us a week to find the people who got shrunk” Wirt shuddered at the memory.  
  
“So how do we get past this barrier?” Dipper asked, pressing his hand against a patch of, should have been a gap between the trees, only to find some invisible force pushing against his hand.  
  
“I should be able to walk right through since I’m the gnome prince” Wirt mused  
“Then what stopped you?” Dipper asked  
  
“That was a real tree”  
  
“oh”  
  
“Now, there should be a-there it is.” he said as he reached for a branch that stuck out of nearby tree. Unless you were looking for it, you wouldn’t have noticed it’s subtle familiarity towards a door handle. “With this we can walk through easily” he added, turning the branch-handle, which opened the trunk of the tree it was attached to like a door.  
  
“cool” Dipper said as he followed Wirt through the tree-door. He paused as it closed behind them, noticing how much quieter the forest was not that the music blaring inside the clearing wasn’t ringing in his ears as much. Taking a deep breath of the cool night air, he quickly followed Wirt, who had gained a considerable lead on him.  
  
“Feeling better?” Wirt asked  
  
“Very much.” Dipper replied with a grin  
  
The rest of the short trek was mostly uneventful as the pair made their way to a clearing that was significantly smaller than the one that the party was being held in. It had a small pond towards the back from where they were standing, with the moon shimmering in the rippled surface as fish ducked into the depth after snatching at an unfortunate enough insect that had landed in the water.  
  
Taking a seat on a nearby rock, Wirt extended his arm outwards “Welcome to the Calming clearing” he said.  
  
“oh god, you’re starting to sound like my grunkle, is that actually this place’s name?” Dipper replied with a little laugh, taking a seat on a rock near the one Wirt had taken purchase.  
  
“No” Wirt replied with a chuckle “It’s what I call it though.”  
  
Picking up a pebble, Wirt gently threw it at the pond, sending ripples across its surface. the two sat in silence for a while, Allowing the gentle splishes of the ponds water hitting the bed fill the air. Looking at his palms, Dipper knew that this was as good as a chance as any to deal with the weight that was crushing his chest. The worst that could happen would be having to fight off an army of gnomes, which he and Mabel had dealt with a year ago already; so he didn’t have much to lose. Taking a deep breath he turned to face Wirt.  
  
“Wirt, listen I have something I’ve been meaning to tell you” he began  
  
“hm?” Wirt replied, looking away from his recent attempt at rock skipping  
  
“I’ve been meaning to tell you, the reason I was so nervous tonight, it wasn’t because of the party” he said, licking his dried lips before he continued “It’s because I- I”  
  
He couldn’t do it. Despite his self-pep talks, despite his sister’s reassurance, despite the safety the journal’s could provide him. He still couldn’t admit his feelings to Wirt. He couldn’t even blurt it out, the possible words felt acidic on his tongue. he could feel tears welling up in his eyes, but he couldn’t figure out why, was the fear of being rejected that great to him?  
  
“Dipper” Wirt said voice full of concern “are you okay? I don’t want to push you to say anything you don’t want to. But if you have to tell me anything, I’ll be here to listen.”  
  
With that Dipper, blinked his eyes shut, fighting back his tears. Clenching his fists in determination, with his friends reassurance, he swallowed the lump in his throat and took a breath.  
  
“I-i-I I really like you!” he confessed, face red, tears finally falling, waiting for the rejection to hit. For the words of 'I only see you as a friend,' or 'I don't like you that way' or worst of all 'What's wrong with you?' Instead, he heard nothing, rather, Dipper felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around him tightly.  
  
“If I’m being completely honest.” Wirt voice came as he rested his chin on Dipper’s shoulder. “I’ve had a bit of a crush on you myself.”

"Y-you did?" Dipper stuttered out, wrapping his own arms around the gnome prince.

"Yeah, It's embarrassing to admit that I was always lost in your eyes whenever we had out political discussions," Wirt said with a crooked smile, wiping away Dipper's tears with his thumb.

"So that's why Jeff was always there," Dipper said slowly, the dots connecting in his mind, "wait, how did I miss that he did all the talking?"  
  
"Jeff asked the same thing at the end of every meeting, often following it with if you were really the guy I had my eyes on." Wirt chuckled, taking a seat on a larger rock near the pond.

Dipper sat next to Wirt on the rock, his hand on the other man's. The night air was a nice cool contrast to how hot his face was.   
  
“Then-w-would you like to-” Dipper said with a shuddered breath “go out on a date or something?”

“That sounds wonderful” Wirt replied, his fingers wrapping around Dipper's hand, "How about I meet you at the Mystery Shack at 5 tomorrow?"   
  
"I-er-yeah I'm free then!" Dipper said, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand.  
  
Wirt leaned forward and gently pressed his lips onto Dipper's, "Then it's a date!" he said cheerfully, heading back to the party, leaving a slightly stunned Dipper trailing behind.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally this was written in a last minute rush because WTF is time management amirght?  
> But For this upload, I've gone through and made some edits so that it's more tolerable to read. especially that ending, Yeesh.


End file.
